Pearly Whites :)

I am crossing my fingers that Noelle gets her 'teeth genes' from Rob and not me. After all we went through with Noah's baby teeth (our $2,500 out of pocket expenditure...that was fun), it would be nice to have one out of two without any problems! In Noah's defense, we're not convinced that all of the dental procedures he went through were necessary. We did get two different opinions with pediatric dentists but they both agreed. I'm pretty certain they're in cahoots with each other, though. Amazingly, since he's been seeing our regular family dentist, he's had no further problems. Go figure...

She loves to chew on the toothbrush...then again, what doesn't she like to chew on!?



We have to brush our teeth after we eat junk like popsicles (which she loves!!):

She goes straight for her two bottom teeth with the toothbrush:

Sleeping on the job

I'd fire the Friday nanny if she didn't work for free!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I intended for this to be the last picture but, yet again, I can't figure out how to manipulate the pictures to go where I want them to go (ERIN?!?! KYLE?!?!). I swear up and down that cut and paste does NOT work! Neither does trying to upload them in a certain order or using a different internet browser. It is so random and so frustrating! I can calculate pensions and code calculation engines but I can't figure out how to get pictures in the right flippin' order...agh!

I was pretty proud of this idea this morning. I didn't even see it in a magazine or anything. I was looking for a heart shaped cookie cutter at the same time as I was making Noah scrambled eggs and lo and behold we ended up with this:


Here is where I really wanted to start this post...

When Noelle was born, I heard from several people that my reign as princess was over. I didn't need to be told...the moment Rob saw her I knew it! Her continuous and infectious smile doesn't help me have any chance of getting my crown back. Oh well, I treasure her just as much and I had an extra three years of reign whereas Rob lost his title on 8/17/05 :)

In past years, I'd be showered with jewels. This year, Noelle was the only one who got a little sparkly something:








As always, the box was the biggest hit:

Noah was so precious helping her open it and explaining that boys buy for girls and girls buy for boys on Valentine's Day. We haven't taught him about the inequality in our house where the boys get shafted on Valentine's Day and he was quite pleased with a $2.99 heart balloon and a box of chocolate (which I must add he flipped over to make sure it was "Made is the USA"...that's my boy!) so no need to go there!

(Noah just came over to the computer and said "hey, that's a picture of me trying to take Noelle's gift from her"...that's a better caption than "Noah helping his sister open her gift"!)

By 8:00 a.m., we had already delivered a dozen roses and Valentine's gifts (since when did Valentine's Day become the new Christmas?) to Nana and Grams. We caused a big commotion at Grams' house because the animal farm went nuts when they heard us arrive. Oops. It was a covert operation at Nana's house because she was still sleeping and didn't hear the doorbell. I'm thinking she heard it and got scared to death because it was so early in the morning. Poor thing was probably freaked out when we let ourselves in and were whispering as to not wake her up. The goodies were left by the coffee pot so she'd be sure to find them first thing. I can't wait to hear if she was up and freaked out or if she was really able to sleep through all of the giggling!

Rob has to work today but he wanted to try and visit with the moms before he had to go open the park...unfortunately that meant that it had to all be accomplished before 8:00 a.m. I've always heard that the way that a guy treats his mother is a really good indication for how he will treat his wife and that is so true of my husband. This morning was a great illustration of that!

Hope everyone enjoys this Hallmark holiday :) I'm going to enjoy hanging out with the kids and Uncle Kyle/Aunt Erin are coming to visit for the day so I'm sure it'll be an adventure (for Noah, most of all!). We've had 3 offers for free babysitting so maybe Rob and I will sneak out tonight!

Two quick Noah 'funnies'

Noah and I were talking about God yesterday and I told him that he was one of the best gifts that God ever gave to me. To that, he responded "did I come in a box?".

Then, I was typing an email and I shouted to Rob "how do I spell 'clout'?" (Yes, I know that is an easy one but it just didn't look right...) Noah came running to me and said "It starts with letter 'c' Mommy". How precious is he?!

In unrelated news...Noelle has bronchitis (so does Aunt Jen...) so we're having a grand old time. Rob and I took her into the pediatrician this morning and he gave us lots of medicine which I detest giving her but I know she needs it this time around. The next few days should be a load of fun with the 4x/day breathing treatments. She's her happy little self, except when you go near her with the nasal aspirator :) Good times!

Siblings...

Noelle is really starting to look at Noah with adoring eyes. It's absolutely precious to watch the expressions on her face when she looks at him. It's pure love, for sure! He does such a wonderful job entertaining her (when he's asked) but mostly just tolerates her at this point. It won't be long before they really start interacting and we are anxiously awaiting it. I pray that they will always be close :)

She's going to have to learn to love video games in order to further their bond! She does enjoy watching him play as I witnessed today:



Who needs Disney World when you have your own character appearances at home?



Spiderman made another appearance sans the mask:

Just a quick update!

It's almost 9:30 on a Saturday morning and I feel totally in control, haha! That doesn't happen often these days.

I've already showered, given Noelle a bath, fed both kids breakfast, eaten breakfast myself, gotten Noah dressed and spent a fair amount of time playing with both kids. Amazing. When I can actually find the time to update this blog without feeling like it's at the detriment of something else, you know it's a good day! Let's see if the pattern can continue...I'm taking both kids out to lunch (Bene Breadstick...aka Olive Garden...does Noah like to go anywhere else?) with a friend and her two little ones who are the same age as Noah and Noelle. Should be a fun time! I remember thinking that our eating out days were over when Noelle came along. How naive I was!

I need to post pictures more often. I have about 300 on my camera right now so it was hard to narrow it down. Here are some random ones!

Noelle loves to play with this toy! It was Noah's and I'm glad we saved it as she is getting WAY more use out of it than he did.



Noelle loves her food! The only vegetable she isn't a fan of is peas and that's okay because Mommy thinks they're nasty too and would rather pass on feeding her them! Noah and Daddy could live on peas. Go figure. Her first tooth broke through so it won't be long until we're onto to bigger and better foods!



No, we've never hit or abused him! He manages these injuries all on his own. Let's see...the black eye was from running straight into the corner of the counter. We were just getting over being super sick and wham! I almost had a mental breakdown when it happened because it looked horrible and I thought for sure he did irreparable damage. The human body is amazing, though! The picture is a few weeks after the accident so the black eye looks much better. Rob likes to joke that he's glad these injuries always happen on my "shift" because I would never let him hear the end of it if it happened while I was away. Good thing for him, I'm with them 95% of the time.

Then, the "tape" looking thing on the side of his eye is a steri-strip with Dermabond over it where he should have had stitches. Unbelievable. It was a freak accident at Chick-Fil-A where he tripped running up rubber padded stairs. Only our child could manage to get a huge gash on rubber. We learned that we have a very nice Children's ER close by that we never knew about. It's the same hospital that Noah was born at and they built an ER there about two years ago. Good to know but I pray that was our last visit there. Thankfully, Mommy and Daddy were on "shift" when this one happened or else I might have finished off my mental breakdown!



And here are a few cutes ones of our little buddy!

Happy New Year!

Well, we started the new year off with a bang!

I wish it was an exciting bang but it really wasn't. Noah caught the virus that I had right before Christmas and it may very well have been the worst week of my life last week! My poor baby had a 103 degree fever for five straight days. He was such a trooper though. Took his medicine like a champ (well, the eye drops are excluded from that statement) and didn't really slow down. It's so scary when your kids are that sick. I'm so relieved that it was just a virus and his body was able to fight it. Now Grams has it and she can attest to the fact that it is an awful strain of virus. I distinctly remember her telling me to stop acting like a baby when she was bringing me to the ER a few weeks ago because I thought I was dying! She's no longer singing that tune...

Of course, Rob didn't get sick. His immune system continues to amaze me. It must be the bowl of Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream every night...

And, thank our good Lord, Noelle hasn't presented any symptoms. Mommy's milk does a body good!

We had a very relaxing Christmas and everyone was healthy at that point. When I have some free time, I will upload some pictures!

We wish everyone a blessed new year and hope that 2009 is the best one yet!